Americas

Republicans reject Obama’s Turkey envoy

By Josh Rogin, the Cable

From Josh Rogin, the Cable:  The nomination of Frank Ricciardone to be the next U.S. ambassador to Turkey is being held up in the Senate and the GOP has no intention of allowing a vote on the nomination any time soon. A spokesperson for Sen. Sam Brownback, R-KS, confirmed to The Cable that his office […]

NATO’s Training Mission in Iraq “faces a significant shortfall”

By Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero, NATO Training Mission Iraq

From Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero, NATO Training Mission Iraq:  NATO has made an important commitment to Iraq. This commitment has borne fruit; the Iraqi Security Forces are in the lead securing Iraq and are becoming increasingly more capable and professional.

SecDef targets top officers in Europe in plan to trim brass

By Craig Whitlock, the Washington Post

From Craig Whitlock, the Washington Post:  Of all the spending cuts and budget battles the Pentagon is confronting, none is causing more angst than Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates‘s vow to start getting rid of generals and admirals. By almost any measure, the military is more top-heavy an institution than it has been for decades. […]

The State of the War

By the editors of the New York Times

U.S., British troops to train with Kazakh forces

By Robin Paxton, Reuters

From Robin Paxton, Reuters:  British and U.S. troops will join Kazakh forces for 10 days of military exercises from Monday, culminating in a mock peacekeeping operation to strengthen links between the three countries on Central Asian soil. More than 1,000 military personnel, including a large contingent from the air mobile force of the Kazakh armed […]

Strategies for a Cybered World

By Chris Demchak

In, “Conflicting Policy Presumptions about Cybersecurity: Cyber-Prophets, -Priests, -Detectives, and -Designers, and Strategies for a Cybered World,” U.S. Naval War College professor Chris Demchak examines the strategic assumptions of cyberspace and the nature of the cyber threat. Dr. Demchak identifies a set of “cyber communities” and recommends a way ahead to reach consensus on organizing […]

US informs Europe: “We don’t feel the need to profess love”

By Daniel Dombey, the Financial Times

Is Obama improving security in Central and Eastern Europe?

By the Economist

From the Economist:  Listen to critics of Barack Obama’s administration and the story of American policy in eastern Europe is of a grand betrayal, featuring the binning of a promised missile-defence system, the freezing of NATO enlargement and the headlong pursuit of better ties with Russia. The facts are rather different. The single biggest security […]

EU envoy to US flaunts new powers

By Andrew Rettman, the EUobserver

From Andrew Rettman, the EUobserver:  The EU’s new ambassador to the US, Joao Vale de Almeida, has underlined the new powers conferred on EU envoys by the Lisbon Treaty while taking up his post in Washington. In a series of interviews to US-based press on Tuesday (10 August), the ambassador noted that he is empowered […]